What are distributed computer systems and why is it relevant ?
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When you have a big problem to solve, there’s only so much you can get out of one computer. There are huge diminishing returns on processor power, and even if money was no object, the best processor in the world has limits.
So if you want to scale up your computing power, the best option might just be to get more computers on the job.
Whether you do this by putting a bunch of computers into the same server rack, connecting them over your local network, or have access to internet-connected computers around the world, you’ll need some way of getting all these computers working together on the task at hand.
Distributed computer systems is the study of techniques to do just that.
Using multiple computers on a single task introduces a bunch of challenges that you don’t have when using just one computer. Making sure all the computers have the data they need, spreading out the task so computers aren’t waiting around for others to send them necessary data, minimising duplicate work, minimising the need to send data over slow networks, etc…
In this environment, the way you write software is very different, and it’s a very popular field of study because big businesses today are running into big data problems that are very hard to solve on single machines.
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